Trusova (RUS) continues to make history, goes for three quads in Kaunas

Russia’s jumping phenomena Alexandra Trusova went for three quadruple jumps at the Amber Cup in Kaunas, Lithuania, the third event of the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating series and became the first female skater to complete a quadruple toeloop-triple toeloop combination in competition. She also landed an underrotated quad Lutz, but fell on a solo quad toe. It was also a first for Lithuania, hosting an ISU Junior Grand Prix event.

Alexandra Trusova (RUS) jumps into history again

World Junior Champion Trusova was the big favorite heading into the third event of the series and did not disappoint. The 14-year-old skated to a confident lead in her Short Program to “Kill Bill” that included a triple Lutz-triple loop combination and a triple flip. There are no quadruple jumps allowed in the junior Short Program. Skating to music from the “Fifth Element” soundtrack, Trusova produced five clean triples in addition to the quads and racked up 221.44 points overall to take the gold medal. “I was very nervous, because this was the first competition of the season and I tried three quadruple jumps in the Free Skating for the first time,” Trusova commented. “Overall I’m pleased with my result at this Grand Prix, but I fell on the (first) quad toe in the free and I will continue to work and try to skate my program clean. My job is to skate clean. When I make a mistake in the program the rest has to be ideal,” the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Champion added. Trusova is planning to compete again in the Junior Grand Prix event in Ljubljana (SLO). Watch the interview with Trusova here.

Yelim Kim (KOR) stood in fourth place following the Short Program as she had made a mistake on the triple flip and underrotated her triple Lutz-triple toe combination. The 15-year-old then put out an excellent Free Skating that featured seven triples to pull up to second at 191.89 points. The silver is Kim’s first medal on the junior circuit. Kseniia Sinitsyna (RUS) claimed the bronze in her debut at the ISU Junior Grand Prix.

Andrew Torgashev (USA), who has been competing on the Junior Grand Prix since the 2014/15 season took his first gold medal on the circuit. The 17-year-old made a few errors in his Short Program to “Open Arms” and his Free Skating to “El Tango de Roxanne”, but managed to overtake Short Program leader and debutant Kirill Iakovlev (RUS) with a total score of 201.63 points. With a first and a fourth place from his two events, the American will have to wait and see if this will be enough to get him into the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final. “It wasn’t a perfect program, but that’s ok. I’ve been training so hard, I’ve been so much more focused than I’ve ever have been in my entire career. Even with the beginning mistakes, I wanted to keep fighting”, Torgashev said, who struggled with his opening three jumps quad toe, triple loop and triple Axel. Watch the complete winner’s interview with Torgashev here.

Iakovlev skated well, but he does not include yet a triple Axel into his routines and he missed his flying camel spin in the Free Skating (199.01 points). Yuto Kishina (JPN) earned the bronze on 191.80 points.

Confident win for Ushakova/Nekrasov (RUS)

Arina Ushakova/Maxim Nekrasov of Russia claimed their second title on the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating series with two confident performances. The World Junior bronze medalists danced to the lead in the Rhythm Dance to Libertango and Flamenco that was highlighted by their twizzles and the rotational lift. The ISU Junior Grand Prix finalists put out an upbeat Free Dance set to “Black Cat, White Cat” and picked up a level four for four elements to score 168.17 points overall. "This was our first competition of the season and to start the season with a win is twice as nice. We already missed competing. We skated both programs well, we managed, even though Maxim had fallen sick and was not feeling well,” Ushakova said. “We know where we had some rough spots in the programs and saw in the protocols where we have to pay more attention to not make mistakes. We have some time now before our next Junior Grand Prix in Armenia, so we’ll work on these shortcomings,” she added.

Avonley Nguyen/Vadym Kolesnik (USA) in second and Ukraine’s Darya Popova/Volodymyr Byelikov in third place earned their first medals on the junior circuit. The American team performed a contemporary Free Dance to “Demons” by Imagine Dragons and “Experience” by Ludovico Einaudi while the Ukrainians danced to a Chopin Nocturne and “Run”, also by Einaudi.

Overall, 90 Skaters and couples from 32 ISU Members competed in the Amber Austria: 21 Junior Men, 33 Junior Ladies and 18 Junior Ice Dance couples. The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series continues next week in Richmond, BC (CAN). For full entry lists, results, the General Announcement are available on the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series page.